The Future Not Remembered
by Triscribe
Summary: Bart knew that coming back in time to prevent the Reach Apocalypse meant that other things he knew of would be drastically changed as well. But, when a kid speedster from the altered future accidentally shows up, both the Team and League start to get an idea of just HOW different the new timeline will be - Wally coming back being the biggest thing to look forward to, apparently.
1. Chapter 1

_Much gratitude deserves to be given to Alexandria-likethecityinEgypt and bracteantha for their kind words and advice as I was working on this story. Not sure it would have been put together and ready to post quite this soon without their input driving me onwards._

Chapter 1

 _The aliens came, took over the world, and bled it dry. After two generations born into the misery Earth had become, one family was able to give their youngest member a chance to fix things: to save the world. He was sent back in time, carrying few tools but wielding a mind full of knowledge and stories passed on by older relatives and old friends. The kid's tasks began and ended with saving lives - his grandfather, his mentor, and the boy who was supposed to be turned into a monster to betray his race, just to name a few._

 _He joined with the heroes of that era, and indeed changed enough events to rescue humanity from its fate._

 _But that's the thing about timelines... When they are altered, history can end up going in some drastically different ways... Such as the incident at the North Pole. Sometimes, though, the universe knows that certain things were always meant to be - and that some lives were never meant to be lost._

 _And occasionally, time travel is a means not of changing the future, but simply promising that things_ _ **will**_ _get better in the end._

" _KF, are you in position yet?"_

"Affirmative, Robin." Bart whispered through his comlink. "Ready to more whenever Blue gives the signal." Six teens were gathered around the edges of the mountain-top facility in South America, where Nightwing had learned that terrorists from several Middle East countries had come to collaborate on weapons development with local crime lords. Robin, Kid Flash, Blue Beetle, Wonder Girl, Static, and Beast Boy were preparing to slip inside, take down the militants, and destroy any work they'd already completed.

" _Okay, hermano... Now!"_ Once Jaime gave him the go-ahead, Bart vibrated through the fence, raced past a pair of guards in his stealth tech, and slipped inside the main building. He needed to scout the opposition in order to send a report back to the others, who would come in less quietly.

Crouching behind some metal storage crates, Bart glanced around the interior of the building, counting at least twenty more guards and a minimum of eight tech people busy working. He sent the info out, then shifted position to stand in the shadows by some giant test tubes-

Seriously, glass containers large enough to hold a human, from kid size to fully grown. Bart frowned at them, wishing he'd paid a little more attention to Kaldur's briefing about what the terrorists were trying to develop here. His apprehension grew at the sight of rings set in the tops and bottoms of the tubes - perfect for attaching manacles or similar restraints.

Shaking his mind back to present, Bart prepared to race out and start taking down targets once his teammates attacked.

He froze upon seeing the cage sitting on the floor behind one of the main tables, and the small human form curled up inside of it. From his previous position, the hero hadn't been able to spot it, but now he realized that if the others came crashing in, the guards would easily be able shoot the occupant before any of them could get there.

Well, before any of the _other_ teens could get there.

"Robin, come in, we've got a slight problem." Bart hissed into the comlink.

" _What's wrong, Kid?"_

"That's just it! There's a kid in here!" A few seconds of stunned silence, and then nearly all of them were asking what he meant. "I couldn't see him from where I was before, but you guys need to give me a three second advance warning for your attack."

" _Can you get the little guy out in that time?"_ Static asked, concerned.

"Yeah, as long as I vibrate him out of his cage and take off for the far wall without stopping."

" _That's fine, KF, we'll handle the guards. Moving in ten seconds."_

Silently, Bart counted down inside his head, muscles tensing. At the three second mark, he took off like a shot, blurring past startled guards and vibrating his hands in anticipation of sending them through the metal bars of the cage.

Except, that's not what happened. Instead, the thing sparked with a dark purple energy, and rather than going through the thing, Bart was blasted backwards. He landed several yards away from the cage, flat on his back with a massive _oomph!_

"Ah..." The hero blinked up at the half a dozen gun barrels suddenly aimed at his face. "Hola, amigos. What's up?"

Before anyone could respond, or shoot him, several sections of the roof caved inwards, the rubble followed by Jaime, Cassie and a gorilla-form Gar. The front doors blew up, and out of the smoke Tim and Virgil launched themselves at the nearest guards.

Reacting on instinct, Bart threw himself out of the path of bullets that came hurtling towards his prone body. For the next few minutes, he was too focused on throwing punches and dodging gunfire to worry about the kid he'd seen.

Beast Boy joined him in circling the perimeter, keeping any of the guards or scientists from fleeing the building. Static and Blue Beetle stayed airborne, the latter taking aim at some of the less delicate machinery while the former used his lightning to zap away the metal weapons. In the center of the melee, though, Wonder Girl and Robin were a force unto themselves - birdarangs and the coils of enchanted lasso were flying constantly, while the pair of teens themselves remained in motion as they took down all their opponents. Tim's punches might not have packed as much power as his girlfriend's, but his mid-air flips and high kicks more than made up the difference.

Eventually, though, they were all done. The guards and tech people were down, weapons disposed of, computers and written records trashed, and the six heroes had gathered around the barred cage. Still crouched inside of it was a small boy wearing a grimy grey jumpsuit much too large for him, face pressed into the tops of his bent knees and thin arms wrapped as far around himself as they'd go.

He hadn't moved during the fight. And he wasn't stirring now, as the heroes tried talking to him while Robin worked on hacking into the electronic lock. Not until the Gotham teen had gotten the door open could any of them even tell if the child was breathing.

The Boy Wonder reached into the cage, and then a few things happened in quick succession.

First, the kid sucked in a lungful of air. A second later, he launched himself out of the cage at superspeed, bowling over the startled Robin, and making a beeline for the open doors. Bart had barely blinked before he raced after the kid, slipping an arm around his skinny waist and lifting the boy off of his feet just outside the doorway.

"No! Let me go!" The little guy screamed, sending an elbow behind him aimed at Bart's face. He managed to avoid it by tilting his head, and then the teen just held on through his captive's struggles and yells.

"Let go! I've gotta go find her! I need to find my sister! Dad, Mom, please, let me go, I need to find them, I have to- please! Just let me go!" Gradually, the kid's shouts died down into broken sobs, and as his high speed struggling slowed Bart shifted in order to hug the boy close. He was aware of the others hurrying out after them, and at least one of the teens was calling for a bioship pickup, but Bart's entire focus was on calming the child in his arms.

"It's okay, kid," The hero whispered as the mop of greasy blonde hair was tucked under his chin. "I'm Kid Flash, one of the good guys. We'll find your family, I promise."

"B-but, you- you're not D-Don." The boy gulped out. Bart felt his heart freeze in surprise.

Don Allen was his father's name. A man who, while never being a bona fide superhero, had used his superspeed to try and help a handful of humanity fight back against the Reach in the future Bart was from.

"No... No, my name is Bart." His voice caught, knowing that secret identities were risky things to reveal. He could sense the other teens stiffening behind him, and knew at least Robin would later be berating him for that admission, along with his cowled mentor once Batman heard the de-briefing.

But at the moment, he was more concerned about the confusion on the boy's face as he twisted to look up at him. "B-Bart? But... You're too young. Y-you can't be..." His jaw and lips continued to move, though no more words were making their way out.

"It's alright, don't worry about that right now. Hey, since I gave you my name, how about you share yours, huh?"

"I-I-I'm Jay..." The boy said, muscles going limp as his eyes started to dim. "A-and I think, I think... That rift... Was more... more than just a, a zeta, portal." Slumping in Bart's arms, the exhausted kid just had time for one last question before he passed out. "P-promise you- you'll find her? My sister?"

"I promise," Bart told him, even as Jay's eyes fluttered closed and he dropped into unconsciousness. Turning, the teen looked at his teammates, who's expressions ranged from deeply worried to outright shock.

"Guess we need to figure out where these creeps could be holding another prisoner."

-FnR-

"Don't tell me - you think he's another time traveller." Nightwing sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose with forefinger and thumb. "Just what we need, more spoilers."

"Hey!" Bart protested. "My spoilers helped saved the world, remember?" Jaime rolled his eyes and gave the speedster a gentle swat upside the head. The others just ignored his outburst.

Gathered in the briefing room of the Watchtower, the returning squad had met up with Nightwing, Tigress, Aqualad, Flash, and Zatanna. It had taken a fair amount of coaxing for Bart to turn the still-slumbering Jay over to Black Canary, who'd taken the boy first to get a bath, and then some new clothes. At the moment, though, the rest of the heroes were more concerned with how to handle another speedster from the future - and the possibility that there was a second one still in enemy hands.

"Regardless, intel never showed any signs of another collaborative base. If the child's sister is being held by one of the organizations involved, she could be in any of half a dozen countries." Kaldur stepped in. "We may want to arrange for a joint operation involving the Team and League to simultaneously enter and search as many known locations of the terrorist activity as possible."

"And if the girl isn't _in_ any known locations?" Tigress interrupted.

"Then we search their records to see if there's any mention of prisoner transport, or track down any cages like the one this boy was in." Nightwing turned to glance at Bart. "You said that when you first tried to vibrate through the metal, it reacted with an energy blast?"

"Yeah. I didn't recognize the type, but it was definitely made to prevent speedsters from getting through. Which, made more sense after Jay tried to bolt from us."

"And he called you Don?" Flash was frowning, just as concerned over that particular point as his time-travelling grandson. Bart sighed, nodding.

"And then he seemed really confused when I told him who I actually was - saying that I was 'too young', which is really what seemed to hammer home the idea he's from a different time." Aqualad opened his mouth to ask another question, but was cut off by an alert coming over the Watchtower system's.

"Black Canary to Team, he's running!" Everyone stiffened, instantly knowing who the adult hero meant. The speedsters were already moving for the doors to the lower level, though they needn't have bothered - seconds after the alert, a small figure in a red shirt and black shorts came shooting through, skidding to a halt upon spotting them.

"Dad!" Jay launched himself at a shocked Barry, grabbing onto him and babbling at superspeed. "I'msorry, I'msosorryImpandIranoffwithoutwaitingforinstructionsIknowwe're notsupposedtodothatbutwefoundthebadguysand thentherewasthisglowingholeandwefell throughandtherewere thesesoldierseverywhereandthey shotuswiththis weirdpurple stuffandwhenI wokeupIreywasgoneandI'msosorryIlostherandit'sbeensolongIdon'tknowwheretheytookheror how long I- I..." He started trembling as the words came to a halt. "Y-you're not Dad." Jay backed away from the frozen Flash, finally turning his head to take in all the other heroes in the room. "N-none of y-you are who y-you're s-supp-posed to b-be!"

Seeing another wave of tears coming on, Bart quickly moved forward to kneel in front of the kid. "Hey, take it easy Jay, we're friends, don't worry."

"But you're not the _right_ friends!" The boy wailed. "I don't know what's _going on!_ "

"We think- I think- that you've come back in time." Bart offered. Jay just stared at him, before understanding dawned in his eyes.

"Oh." He said in a very small voice. "That's not good."

"Do you remember how it happened?" Flash said carefully, joining Bart by sitting on the floor, and slipping the hood of his costume off as well. Jay rubbed his hands up and down his upper arms, looking at them cautiously.

"D-Dad and, and me, and Impulse, w-we were looking into earthquakes on the Brazilian coastline." He mumbled. "No tectonic fault lines there, so Unc- Batman was suspicious, a-and Dad wanted to give me and Imp a chance to run over the ocean water." A small grin briefly appeared on Jay's face, before his continued words wiped it away again. "There were scientists working on some glowing portal thingy in a bunker near the beach, and me and Impulse ran in before Dad was finished scouting - he gets really mad when we do that, but Mom says he used to do the same thing all the time too. Anyway, the people in there had guns that didn't shoot the usual kind of lasers, they fired these beams of purple energy, and one of 'em clipped my sister and she lost, like, half her speed in a split second. I tried to catch her, but we fell through the portal that they were making, and then there were soldiers _everywhere,_ and they _all_ had those energy weapons too, and we both got hit, at least I think we did, I pushed Imp behind me, and when I woke up she wasn't there."

"How long ago was that?" Flash asked quietly, gently interrupting the kid's monologue as he slowed down to breathe.

"I dunno. A few days, I guess? They only gave me a bit of water, and took away my suit, which had extra food in it."

"You haven't eaten in days?!" Bart exclaimed. "How are you able to run at all?!"

Jay shrugged. "It helped that I didn't move much, even when they were poking at me." He repeated the motion of rubbing his arms, and Bart's heart sank at the memory of those human-sized test tubes.

"In that case, Jay, why don't you go down the kitchens with Bart? We're coming up with a plan to try and track down your sister, but you need to eat now."

"Okay." The kid allowed his hand to be taken by the teen speedster, but they paused in leaving to answer a question from Nightwing.

"Is there anything you can tell us to help calm your sister down, when we find her? We don't want her running away on us like you tried to do." Jay thought for a moment.

"Yeah. We go by Impulse and Haste, but our real names are Irey and Jay West."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

For the first three minutes after Bart left with Jay, no one in the room moved. If it hadn't been physically impossible, Nightwing doubted anyone had been breathing, they were that silent.

"H-how?" Barry was the first one to break the silence. He was still staring at the door the two time travellers had gone through, mind working at superspeed to try and formulate with an explanation for the words they'd just heard.

 _Our real names are Irey and Jay West._

Evidently, he couldn't come up with one.

"We can- we can work that out later." Nightwing took a deep breath, trying to give his own mind a jumpstart on thinking clearly again. The others were doing the same, gradually turning their attentions back to him - with the notable exception of one black and orange clad hero.

"Tigress." He called. No response, so he tried again, moving closer to her. "Artemis." Her eyes flickered over to him briefly. "I know what you're thinking, but we need to focus right now. Once Jay comes back, we'll ask him a few more questions, I promise."

"... Those were the names..." She whispered, so softly that if Nightwing hadn't come to stand beside her, he doubted he would have heard.

"What?"

Artemis had to take several shaky breaths before she answered. "O-our second year at Stanford, I brought up the possibility of having kids one day, and what their names would be. He was just joking around at first, but then W-Wally suggested Iris and Jay-"

"After his aunt and Mr. Garrick, I remember you telling me about that." Nightwing felt another wave of mixed emotions wash over him. Confusion, disbelief, sadness... Hope.

"They're brother and sister, they both have superspeed, a-and Irey could be a nickname!" Her eyes were filled with the same feelings that Nightwing was experiencing, and it killed him to provide some form of a reality check.

"Artemis. We need to focus on finding the other kid right now, not on how these two came to be in the timeline-" He found his words cut off by the sharp look the other hero shot at him.

"I know. And we will. But this is- this is something that we're coming back to." She said firmly, and there was nothing for him to say against that.

-FnR-

"Whoa." Jay gaped at the massive kitchen located in the heart of the Watchtower. "If half you guys weren't billionaires, I wouldn't believe this much food could exist someplace other than a grocery store." Bart chuckled, stepping quickly over to one of the pantries - specifically, the one filled with nearly every form of packaged snacks on the planet (for the benefit of those who had no inclination to cook). He paused before opening it up.

"Now, Jay, I know we've been going kind of easy on you since the whole rescue thing, but I have an important identity question for you to verify your decency as a speedster - what is your favorite junk food?"

The kid blinked at him. "I don't have one."

Surprised, Bart dropped his grip on the pantry door. "E-excuse me?"

"I don't have one." Jay repeated for him, shrugging. "I take after my mom in a lot of ways, and one of those is I don't like junk food very much. I prefer eating healthy. Although, my sister is just like my dad - every week they're got some new brand or flavor of crunchy snack they're raving about."

"Oh." The teen shifted from the pre-packaged pantry over to one with fruits and vegetables. "Well, if you're expecting me to fix you something, I'm afraid we're both sunk."

"That's okay, I cook with Mom a lot - we can, um, we can make something together?" Jay's confidence wavered halfway through his statement, turning it to a questioning tone at the end. Bart grinned back at him, despite his inner nervousness.

"Sure we can!" Well, seeing the tentative smile spread across Jay's face was worth Bart signing himself up for something he'd never tried before.

-FnR-

Half an hour later, when Jaime and Gar came down to find them, the absolute disaster zone that the kitchen had become said bad things about the speedsters' cooking attempts.

"Heads up!" Jay yelped and ducked as tomato came sailing towards him. "You're supposed to catch it, silly!"

"After that last one exploded in my hands? No thank you!" The younger speedster grinned before returning fire with two thick handfuls of flour, which Bart sidestepped - allowing the cloud to cover the startled faces of the two teens in the doorway behind him.

"Oops."

"Oh, hermano," Jaime grinned, retracting his Beetle armor into the Scarab. "You just asked for it." Slipping and sliding over the messy floor to seize a bottle of cooking oil as Gar morphed into a monkey, the teen prepared to open fire on his best friend. Between the four of them, every surface in the kitchen soon became drenched in liquids and powders, until all of the boys collapsed against the wall, howling with laughter. The previously mostly-clean speedsters had not fared well with the added players, each sporting a multitude of splatters up and down their torsos and heads. Gar in particular would be taking several baths later to get all the honey and sugar grains off, especially out of his hair, which also had the contents of at least two eggs mixed into it. The shapeshifter had been lucky to avoid the rest of the carton after spilling nuts onto the floor and tripping up Bart, who had grabbed the nearest thing to retaliate. Looking like a ghost after the entire bag of flour had been upended over his head, Jaime was alternating between hurling cheerful abuse at his friends and assuring the Scarab that no, he didn't need the defensive armor back on, he'd be just fine washing his clothes later.

"What on Earth is going on in here?" Gawking, Miss Martian didn't move from the doorway as she took in the horrendous mess.

"Hi, Auntie Em!" Jay waved from his seat on the floor. Then he froze, turning a wide eyed look to Bart. "I, um, I'm not supposed to say things like that, right?"

The older speedster gave him a reassuring pat on the cinnamon-speckled shoulder. "S'okay, dude, my first day here I couldn't stop with the spoilers." Standing, Gar snorted at the reminder. He was still one of the only younger teens to know the true identities of Nightwing and Robin.

"Sooo, M'gann, I'm sure this looks terrible, but don't worry! We'll clean it all up!" The martian gave her adopted brother a stern glare, the sight of which only made him grin wider.

"Somehow I doubt that," She muttered, eyes sweeping over the dripping counters and slimy floor. "I think if you four tried to clean this mess, you'd just end up in another food fight."

"Hey, for your information, the two of _us_ were cooking!" Bart said loudly, wrapping an arm around the amused Jay. "Then these other two showed up and turned it into kitchen warfare."

"Bartholomew Henry Allen, why do I have the feeling you're never baked a thing in your life?"

"I have no idea what you could possibly mean by that." The teen turned his nose up into the air, in an exaggerated posture of innocent indifference. Jay giggled.

Suddenly the martian's gaze focused back on him, and the boy couldn't help the slight shudder as he felt her mind brush against his own. He quickly pulled up the mental blocks his honorary aunt had instructed him to use should the boy ever experience a telepathic intrusion, and allowed only one thought to remain at the forefront where it would be visible. _*Stop that, please.*_

M'gann's eyebrows rose. "Who taught you to do that?" She demanded.

"Y-you did." Jay mumbled, more than a little embarrassed he'd told off the hero. The teens around him blinked, before Gar realized what the sudden words meant.

"Oh come on, Meg, you don't need to analyze him _now._ " The shapeshifter groaned, pressing his face into his hands. M'gann looked briefly ashamed, before she delivered the message she'd come down here with.

"Nightwing's expecting you four back in the main meeting hall."

"Um, do we have time to change first...?" Jaime worried.

M'gann allowed her lips to twist into a humorless smile. "No. And it'll serve you right for wrecking this place. Which, you _will_ be cleaning up later, under my own or Black Canary's supervision." The three teen heroes groaned, while Jay merely nodded his understanding with a sheepish expression. "Now come on, guys."

-FnR-

As expected, every head in the hall turned in order towards the door in order to catch a glimpse of the newly arrived time traveller, and as such the four boys walking through had nowhere to hide. Each of them remained in the ingredient-splattered clothes and costumes, though M'gann had at least allowed each a few moments to wipe their faces off with paper towels.

As he hid in between Bart and Jaime, Jay's eyes kept sweeping the crowd of heroes that were all staring at him, until his gaze landed upon the smaller group standing at the front of the hall. He instinctively gulped as Batman glared at him, knowing the man would be a _lot_ scarier than his uncle Dick - a much younger version of whom happened to be standing beside the scary man, looking thoughtful as they approached. There was a young woman in an orange costume and cat-like mask standing next to Nightwing who was also intently watching Jay, and he frowned while trying figure out who she was.

When it hit him, the kid nearly tripped from shock. As soon as he and the older boys emerged from the crowd of superheroes, Jay slipped away from them and speeded over to stand beside the startled woman.

"Uh..." She started to speak, but a plea in the green eyes the boy turned up at her had Artemis falling silent without really knowing why. There were a few murmurs from the crowd, but Batman silenced them with a glare. Then, surprisingly, he nodded to Nightwing, who knelt before Jay and proceeded to ask him to repeat his story, a tad slower than before.

When the kid finished, the black haired man started to give him a few questions. "How old are you, Jay?"

"Ten."

"And your sister, Irey, was it? How old is she?"

"The same. We're twins." Off to the side, Bart grinned, momentarily picturing the chaos two sets of growing speedster twins could cause.

"You said that the two of you had gone to that site with your dad - do you think he could have followed you guys through the portal?"

Jay had to think about that one. "I dunno. He's a lot faster than me and Irey - faster than any other speedster. I don't think the bad guys could have caught him like they did with us, but then if he did come to this time, then he probably would have called you."

"But there is a possibility that he could have been captured and is still being held alongside your sister, right?" Nightwing gently pressed the point, causing Jay to frown deeply.

"I guess."

"If that is the case, then can you tell us his name, since you already shared yours and Irey's?"

"Oh, sure. He's Wally West."

As the mixture of excited and shocked mutterings spread across the room, Nightwing slowly sat back, never breaking eye contact with the nervous boy. "Do you know that the Wally West we know died fourteen months ago?"

" _Died?!"_ Jay yelped, eyes going wide. "But- how?!"

"There was an... incident, at the North Pole, when he and the other speedsters were trying to diffuse an alien bomb-"

"Oh, you mean _that."_ Huffing, Jay crossed his arms and glared at the man. "You nearly gave me a heart attack. Dad didn't die, he got hit with too much excess energy and was pulled into the Speed Force. He found a way back out, like, two years later."

Throughout the meeting hall, there was a great uproar, as nearly everyone was trying ask the same batch of questions: how? where? and most importantly, _when?!_

Sucking in a startled breath as he got overwhelmed by the sudden noise, Jay stumbled back, right into the woman still standing behind him. Artemis caught his shoulders and held on with a reassuring grip, prompting Jay to give her a grateful smile.

While Batman and a few of more level-headed Leaguers tried to quiet the rest back down, with minimal success, Nightwing caught Jay's attention again. "Maybe we ought to continue this discussion with fewer voices involved."

The boy nodded, a hand reaching up to grab onto Artemis' wrist. "Can Mom come?"

Privately, Dick thought it was a very good thing no one besides him and the now frozen woman had heard those three words.

-FnR-

There were only a handful of chairs in the private meeting room, where Nightwing and the still shell-shocked Tigress had led Jay. They were followed closely by Batman and M'gann, with Barry and Bart bringing up the rear (and leaving crowd control to their friends).

The two younger speedsters each claimed a seat, Bart beside Jay, with Nightwing and Miss Martian sitting opposite of them. Flash stood beside his grandson, standing in a relaxed posture despite his concerned expression. Batman, of course, took a post in the shadows behind his oldest pupil, Artemis in between him and Jay.

Wriggling slightly in the chair as he tried to get comfortable, it took the kid in question a few moments to take note of Nightwing's bemused look. "A-heh," he chuckled sheepishly. "Sorry. So, anymore questions?"

"A few. Can you give us the location of the cave where you and your sister fell through the portal?"

"Um... Not off the top of my head. If we could find my suit, though, the coordinates should still be in the built-in GPS." He elaborated at Nightwing's raised eyebrow. "Irey and I both started moving at super speed when we were toddlers, so Mom made Dad put a GPS tracker and map system into each of our friction-resistant suits. She didn't want us getting lost on the other side of the country or something like that."

"Smart." Artemis murmured, mentally reminding herself to remember that detail.

"Okay then. What does your sister look like?"

"Well, we're the same size. She's got green eyes like me, but really poofy red hair - she keeps asking our cousin Dawn to either help braid it or chop the whole mess off." Bart snorted at that.

"You're sure that none of the bad guys around you ever mentioned where she might have been taken?"

"No..."

"That's okay. We're working on a battle plan to hit all the known locations used by these guys, to try and find her. Now, one last question for the moment - would you be comfortable with letting Miss Martian look into your mind to verify a few details you've given us?"

"To make sure I'm not a villain in disguise or anything, right?" Nightwing nodded, and Jay tentatively gave his consent. "Just, don't go blaming me if you see something that freaks you out." He said to M'gann as she approached. Smiling, she assured him she'd keep only to the bare minimum of necessary memories.

"You guys know this might not be a very good idea, right?" Bart asked anxiously, despite his grandfather's reassuring grasp on the teen's shoulder.

"I promise not to reveal any spoilers I might see, Bart." Reaching forward, M'gann held each hand just to either side of Jay's temples. "Relax now, please." And with that, she dove forward into his mind.

 _A/N: If anyone wants to read the little scene of Wally and Artemis musing about baby names, go check out my story Everything To Me - full of wonderful Spitfire moments._

 _In other news, HOLY CRAP, people! This story hasn't even been up 24 hours yet and already it's received a more freakin' attention than some of my other stuff does in a month! I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry... Anywho, I'm going to be posting a chapter a day on this unless something else comes up - it's not a very long story, so we should be finished up regardless by the end of the week. Have fun reading, and be sure to comment!_

 _-Triscribe_


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

" _Are we gonna go to the Watchtower today?" Irey asked excitedly, bouncing on her heels. Jay rolled his eyes while their dad merely chuckled._

" _Not 'til next week, Pumpkin." Wally ruffled his daughter's hair, ignoring the girl's exaggerated sigh. "Now, I thought you guys were looking forward to this party."_

" _Not if it's gonna be at boring old Wayne Manor." Irey said with a frown. Jay didn't understand why she felt that way - as far as he was concerned, the Manor was a pretty cool place, especially when the kitchen turned out a feast of food for the gathered superheroes._

" _Well, too bad, since that's where we're heading." Their mom's voice stated firmly as the woman joined them, her blonde hair pulled back by a green bandanna. "Now, are you two ready to go?"_

" _Yes, Mom." The twins chorused. All four of them stepped out the back door of their modest home in Central City, Artemis taking a moment to lock up. Then she let Wally scoop her up in a bridal carry, and the trio of speedsters started running in the direction of Gotham. After a few minutes at an easy pace, the Wests reached the hidden entrance at the rear of their destination. They had to pause a moment for the security system to recognize them, and then the gate slid open. Wally and Artemis opted to walk up the hill to the party taking place on the Manor's grounds, while the twins raced on ahead._

" _Irey! Jay!" A cheerful voice called out as they skidded to a stop. "Glad you two could make it."_

" _So are we, Uncle Dick!" Jay smiled at the dark haired man, and the boy standing behind him. "Hi, Terry. Where should we put the present for Matt?"_

" _There's a table on the back patio." The nine year old answered him, avoiding looking at the stony glare Irey was shooting at him. "Just be careful when you put it there, 'cause he keeps trying to trap people and ask what they got him."_

" _How much trapping can a kid turning six do?" Irey snorted._

" _You'd be surprised. Just a few weeks ago he managed to catch your dad's feet with a fast-drying polymer." The man standing beside them said dryly._

 _Both twins gaped, having not heard this bit of information. Then they started giggling uncontrollably, prompting a raised eyebrow from Artemis as she and her husband finally reached the same spot._

" _Dick, what did you do?" The blonde woman asked._

" _Oh, just catching the pipsqueaks up on current events. Now come on, you guys are the last ones here-"_

" _Again?" Wally groaned. "I thought we'd get lucky this time, with how long Connor and M'gann have been taking to get to places lately."_

" _Heh, you wish. They actually got here a few minutes ago, with Kara in tow. That kid might be a fair bit slower in flight than her dad, but she's getting faster-"_

M'gann hastily pulled out of Jay's mind, trying to keep the shock from registering on her face. The speedsters didn't notice her facade, but she was fairly sure Artemis, Nightwing and Batman could all tell something was off.

"He's the real deal." The martian announced, regaining her composure. It was hard not to ask Jay about the image she'd gained, of a tiny blonde girl wearing a red t-shirt with a blue S-symbol, but M'gann forced herself to resist the temptation.

A small amount of tension left Nightwing's muscles, and the young man smiled a little more widely at their guest. "Good. Jay, is there anything you want to do while we find Irey? We've got some guest bedrooms on the upper levels, and an entertainment center-"

"I want to help." The boy said immediately. "She's my sister. I want to help get her back."

The adults all exchanged glances, communicating amongst themselves even without M'gann's telepathic assistance. Eventually, Nightwing sighed.

"You'll stick to Bart's side, and follow all orders... Haste."

-FnR-

Frowning as his patient once again whimpered in pain, James carefully ran the damp cloth over her forehead once again. The moisture disappeared immediately in the face of her fever, but the young man was not to be deterred.

He was dunking the cloth back in the nearby bowl of cold water when the door opened and one of his friends entered. "How's the little ankle-biter doing, Trickster?" Digger asked with a solemn expression.

"Not good, I don't think." The younger Rogue answered him. "I pretty sure Len was right about her being a speedster, 'cause all her injuries are gone by now, but the fever won't go away."

"Hm. We might need t' get some medicine, then. Or maybe give in t' Piper's suggestion and dump her with th' League-"

"No!" James yelped. "She's a tiny Flash, and they belong to us! Even, even with Baby Flash, gone..." The blonde man bowed his head in a moment of grief, before looking up again to meet Captain Boomerang's concerned gaze. "Besides, how do we know the League isn't behind her being hurt?"

"Aw, hell, Trick, ya can't go makin' assumptions like that, 'specially since we've never even seen the kid around Central before."

"Doesn't matter. She was wearing a Flash symbol. And if she'd never been in the city before, then how'd she come stumbling right into our hideout like she knew it was here?"

"...Point. But, if she doesn't start gettin' better in the next couple days, and start givin' us some answers, I'm gonna go with Hartley on this one and tell Cold we outta take her to a cape." He held up his hands to forestall James' continued protest. "If nothing else, we'll get Flash's attention and give her t' him. Would that suit ya?"

"Maybe." The younger Rogue huffed, returning to his tasks as nursemaid. He waited until Digger left, then began to speak to his charge - a little redheaded girl bundled up in blankets on the bed in one of their hideout's spare bedrooms. "Don't you worry, Tiny Flash. I'll get ya all fixed up good as new - and then maybe we can do some of the fun things Baby Flash and I used to do together. He left a few years ago, y'know. Len figured he grew up and moved somewhere for college, and didn't take his suit with him since we never saw any news footage of him. But, we all saw it, when the stations said he'd... He'd died. Stupid aliens." James took a moment to scowl at the floor.

"...Nn 'e dnt." A strained voice muttered softly. The man's head whipped back up, staring as a pair of familiar green eyes squinted at him out of an unfamiliar face. "C'm bk, l-latr." Mumblings over, the little girl closed her eyes again, dropping back into fitful sleep.

James was too shocked to do anything other than stare at her. Then a broad grin stretched across his face, and for the rest of the night Trickster felt better than he had in years.

-FnR-

 _*Everyone in position?*_ M'gann asked over the mind link. She and six other heroes were surrounding a nondescript shack in a small town on the edge of the African Savannah, about to attack one of the hidden bases used by collaborating terrorists.

 _*Yep.*_ Artemis replied, eyes scanning over their target.

Bart shared a look with Jay, who nodded, decked out in his modified black and yellow suit and goggles. _*We're good to go.*_

 _*Ready and waiting.*_ Zatanna nudged Bumblebee's shoulder, getting the woman to smirk as she shrunk down.

 _*Can we please get this show on the road already?*_ Their seventh squad member sighed, idly twirling the crimson batarang in his hands.

 _*Careful, Red, you're starting to sound as impatient as a speedster.*_ Red Hood huffed at Zatanna's teasing remark. He normally didn't have much to do with big League and Team missions, usually only getting called in when they needed an extra Bat for a specific job. On this occasion, though, with every available hero getting pulled up to help search for their visiting speedster's missing sister... Jason Todd wasn't about to turn his back on _that_ endeavor. Even if the resurrected nineteen year old had managed to irritate his big brother by pretending to think it over when Nightwing first called him.

 _*Everyone move on my signal.*_ Miss Martian brought all of their attentions forward again. _*Ready... And... Now!*_ From the shadows of other houses, seven heroes charged.

Flying ahead, Bumblebee and M'gann slipped into the shack via their own routes, noting the high tech trapdoor at the back of the room. Hood kicked down the door, immediately stepping inside to allow Bart and Jay to zoom around him, each circling the interior of the shack before coming to a stop. As Bumblebee started hacking the controls on the trapdoor, Zatanna and Tigress also entered, having circled the tiny building first to check for exterior cameras or defenses.

"Got it!" Karen's tiny voice piped up as she got through the electronic lock. Hood reached down, grabbed the extended handle, and heaved the door open. The speedsters and flyers went down the metal ladder first, magician and melee fighters following after.

Jay descended nearly fifty feet before reaching a floor, jumping the last few steps and casting his gaze about for any sign of guards. Not seeing any, he nodded an all clear to Bart as the older speedster joined him, and then the two began running down the hallway as they continued their search.

 _*Anything?*_ M'gann asked, arriving at the bottom of the ladder just as the boys found the first split in the hall.

 _*Nope. Should we consider that a good or bad thing?*_

 _*Probably bad.*_ Artemis responded, sliding down the ladder. _*It means this place is either deserted, or a trap.*_

Bart took the left hand hall, while Jay went to right - and each simultaneously encountered two different groups of terrorists waiting with machine guns aimed. _*Yeah, I'm gonna go with the 'they knew we were coming' bit.*_ Jay mentioned as he backtracked to avoid the bullets. In the other direction, Bart did the opposite, dodging his opponents' fire as he sprinted forward, disarming and knocking them to the ground.

Thinking that they had him on the run, Jay's group gave chase back through the twists and turns of the hallway - until they came face to face with the boy, Miss Martian and Bumblebee. The trio attacked, and soon had their group subdued as well.

 _*You guys aren't taking up all the action, are ya?*_ Jason asked as he, Artemis and Zatanna hurried to catch up to the other. _*'Cause that's just plain rude.*_

 _*I missed having your humor on a mission, Jay-bird. Adds such life to the party, especially when 'Wing ain't around.*_ Karen laughed at the annoyance Hood projected back through the mental link.

 _*When you three hit the first branch, take a left and join Bart. The rest of us will keep going on the righthand route.*_ M'gann sent to them. _*And Artemis, try to keep Hood from doing anything stupid, will you?*_

 _*Hey!*_

 _*You do realize that's like trying to get Superboy to willingly make friends with monkeys, right?*_

Jay slowly shook his head, wearing a baffled expression. _*I didn't think it was possible, but you all might be even weirder now than in my time.*_ All of the older heroes paused, before breaking out into grins or amused chuckles. _*What? What'd I say? What's so funny?*_

 _*Nothing, Jay.*_ Bart told him, still laughing as he stood over the unconscious goons, waiting for his squad mates to arrive. _*It's something all time travelers experience at least a little bit, believe me. But for now, let's focus on the mission, okay?*_

 _*...Okay.*_

-FNR-

In the course of three hours across the globe, over forty members of the League and Team alike had invaded a dozen secret bases and weapons labs, apprehended close to one hundred terrorists, hired goons, scientists and assistants to hand over to local authorities or Interpol, and sent nervous ripples through criminal underworlds and organizations all around the world.

They found no trace of Irey West.

Batgirl's group had managed to find one clue - the dissected remains of Jay's true uniform, and a written report of the incident in which the testing of a time travel device had resulted in an unknown hero from the future speeding through and disrupting the operation. The device was irrevocably damaged, though the capture of the metahuman had the destruction deemed an acceptable loss. Whoever had made the report also left an indication of the possibility of there having been a second speedster to come through the portal, though when the dust from the initial fight settled, it was only the one boy who'd been found unconscious on the ground.

"I _know_ she came through with me." Jay insisted, close to tears after the information spread throughout the various squads. "And I'm _absolutely certain_ she wouldn't have- have gone back through that thing by herself. She _wouldn't_ have."

"I'm not arguing with you, kiddo." Artemis tried to sooth him, sitting beside the boy. "But this throws a wrench into our plan, and it's time to try and figure something else out." The two of them were in the Bioship's rear compartment, where Jay had gone to hide once Batgirl's news reached them. It would be another hour before they reached the Watchtower, and Artemis really didn't want to have to console the distraught kid for that entire time. "Do... Do you think you can tell me more about her? What she, what the two of you, are like?"

Jay sniffled, staring morosely at the floor as he answered. "...You're always calling us the world's third and fourth biggest troublemakers, 'cause Dad and Uncle Dick were permanently in the top two spots." Artemis couldn't help it - she laughed.

"Well, that doesn't sound too surprising." Shifting position, she scooted closer to the kid in order to wrap an arm around his narrow shoulders, pulling the startled boy to lean against her side. "C'mon, you can't just leave it at that: tell me about some of the trouble you've caused."

"Well... There was my friend Jamal Duncan's end of school party a few months ago. Irey and I didn't want to be the last ones there again, so we left without you and Dad. Except, we didn't take our super suits, so we got lost, and instead of San Francisco we ended up in Montana..." He continued to tell her stories of his and Irey's infamous exploits, gradually growing more light hearted every time her got Artemis to snicker. "...And then, Macy dumped the whole bowl of whipped cream right on Zack's head! The grown-ups decided not to punish her, though, 'cause it did kind of serve him right for deliberately turning her skin blue with pink polka dots."

By now, the young woman had laughed so much she'd gained a stitch in her side. "Oh, I cannot wait to meet these kids. Dick's daughter alone sounds like _such_ a little troll, just like her dad."

"Really? I always thought she's like that because she's had to grow up with Terry and Matt as brothers, not to mention her cousins. All of those guys are _big_ time pranksters."

"I bet. But no, let me tell you a few tales about Dickie back in his Robin days..." And then it was Artemis' turn to send Jay into gales of laughter when relating some of the trouble his father's best friend had caused in the early days of the Team. "The best, though, was when he got Wally to help him rig up a multi-colored spotlight to shine on the zeta tubes, and then they programmed the intercom system to play a different Disney song to play depending on whoever came through. I'd bet good money he's still got the recording somewhere, with all the League and Team member's reactions when they came through."

Jay giggled. "That's epic! Do you remember what songs they used?"

"Hm... Not all of 'em off the top of my head, but I'm pretty sure Superboy's was _I Can Go the Distance,_ Black Canary was _I'll Make a Man Out of You,_ and... Oh! Batman: _Be Prepared._ "

"Makes sense. 'I'm surrounded by idiots' seems like a quote he'd appreciate." Both of them snickered at that, which merely redoubled when the door opened and Zatanna raised a curious eyebrow at the pair.

"Well, I don't know what's got you two in such a state, but M'gann says we'll be docking soon."

"'Kay, thanks 'Tanna."

"Mm-hm." The magician returned to her seat in the main cabin, and Artemis turned back to Jay with a sigh.

"You ready to see about Round Two, kiddo?" The trepidation had returned to his eyes, but the kid nodded nonetheless. "Alright then. Let's go."

-FNR-

"...But I could- *cough* -couldn't carry us both, a-and the bad guys had already knocked him out, s-so I-" As another coughing fit overtook the girl's words, James finished for her.

"So the kid had to leave her brother there and make a run for it. When it looked like her house was deserted, this was the next place on her list to come for help." Around the room, seven other Rogues all exchanged grim glances. Pied Piper looked uneasily towards Heatwave, who could only shrug slightly. Weather Wizard, Mirror Master and Captain Boomerang were all concerned and trying not to show it. Golden Glider watched for her brother's reaction, as Captain Cold continued to frown at the tiny redhead still struggling to breathe where she was curled up on the bed.

"And you said you think it was some kind of time portal you kids came through?" He finally asked, prompting the girl to nod. "Why's that, exactly?"

"Well, for one thing you- *cough* -you guys are all a lot younger than you're s-supposed to be." She blinked wearily. "Also, Josh and Owen aren't here, so that's k-kind of a- *cough* -a giveaway."

Several sets of eyes swung to stare at Weather Wizard, who looked outright shocked at the mention of his infant son's name. "J-Josh? Josh Jackum?"

"Yep. And Owen Harkness. We- *cough* -we used to play together as little kids, 'fore Josh became the Apprentice and me 'n Jay started running with Dad." Slumping over a bit, the girl completely missed the looks of bewilderment that were shot around the room.

"Alright kid, you get some rest, and we'll try talking more later." Glider nudged her brother in the ribs, getting him to agree and start to shoo everyone from the room. Only Trickster remained, helping the little redhead to drink some more water before having her lie down again.

Once the door closed, Heatwave was the one to ask the obvious question. "What the hell are we supposed to do now?"

Removing his visor to pinch wearily at the bridge of his nose, Captain Cold sighed. "Wait 'til the kid gets better and send her off to either Flash or the League."

"In such a way that they don't accuse us of kidnapping, right?" Piper put in. The others nodded, except for Digger and Mark, both of whom were still a little too shell-shocked to pay attention.

"So... Does anyone else really believe her being from the future means the Kid could come back?" Mirror Master asked after a few minutes of tense silence. No one was really willing to answer him.

 _A/N: I've got a small one-shot in my stories titled Uncertain, which brings up Jason's return to the Team, if anyone wants to see some more Red Hood funnies. So, who's happy to see the Rogues making an important appearance?_


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Jay was ready to tear his hair out from frustration. Not only had the initial plan failed to find his sister, but now they were left with squat. Nada. Zilch. It was enough to make a boy start doing jumping jacks, which was the epitome of anxious behavior.

At the moment, though, he was simply speed-pacing back and forth through the meeting room, with Bart and Jaime watching with mixed concern and amusement. "Hey hermano, how long do you think it'll be until he starts wearing a track in the floor?"

"Oh, maybe another ten minutes, which means I'd better get him to quit now. Hey, Jay!"

"What?" The ten year old snapped as he finally halted, still crackling slightly with excess energy.

"You sure you don't want anything? We could probably get someone responsible to go fix us something in the kitchen, since we've been banned. Or we could put in an old-fashioned sci-fi movie, those are always fun to laugh at. Or maybe we could-"

"No offense Bart, but can you just leave me alone?" Jay hissed, his fists clenching. "I don't want food, I don't want a distraction, I just want to bang my head against the wall until I figure out how to find my sister!"

"...You're really not feeling the aster, are you kid?" All three of them swiveled to look at Nightwing, standing in the doorway.

"No. Definitely the opposite." Despite his angry frustration, Jay couldn't help the slight smile that briefly twitched across his lips. "Heavy on the dis."

"Well, I was just conferring with a few of my fellow Birds, and we had a new thought - if Irey wasn't captured, where would she have gone under her own power?"

The young speedster had to think about that for a minute. "Well... If it were me, I'd have gone home, but since we don't live there in this time-" His eyes widened. "I - I think I know where she might be. But, I think Bart and I are the only ones who can go there."

"Eh?" Confused, the other time traveler gave his friends a baffled look. "Jay, were exactly are you thinking of?"

"Did Dad take you yet to meet his _other_ extended family in Central City?"

"...Oh I see where this is going."

-FNR-

" _Wow._ You guys are even more low-tech now than in the- *cough* -the future!" Even with her lingering cough, Imp had insisted on getting out of her bed and having a look around. James kept hovering right behind the blanket-wrapped girl in case she got tired and started to collapse, but the other Rogues were trying to subtly keep their distance.

Without, it should be said, much success.

Even being unable to move about at super speed, the tiny redhead was still managing to cover an impressive amount of ground, appearing at least once by everyone's side to take a look at what they were doing. It would have been annoying, except, well... It was kind of cute to watch. At one point, Imp had given Cold an idea on how to tweak his cryo gun to improve the ice beam's blast radius. After that, she'd asked Wizard about his boy, delighted to hear that he'd started crawling around, and then moved on to peek over Piper's shoulder and exclaim over the music playlist he was organizing.

"That one's my- *cough* -my mom's favorite." She mentioned at one point, aiming a finger at Rachel Platten's _Fight Song_. And of course, that made the young man wonder something.

"Who is your other parent anyway, kid?"

"Oh, she's Green Arrow." Imp paused. "Actually, she won't- *cough* -won't be for a while, but I don't know what uniform she'd be wear- *cough* -wearing right now."

Digger snickered. "Must be that blonde we saw Baby Flash with once. The one who nearly took 'Wave's head off when we fought 'em."

"Hey! She got in a lucky shot!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever ya say Mick."

Imp laughed, but then tilted her head to one side. "So, why do you guys call my dad 'Baby Flash' anyway? He never- *cough* -never has gotten around to explaining that."

"Because that's what he was - and still is, to us." Trickster happily said. He started to talk about how adorable the Baby was when he first showed up, skidding on his stops and running face first into things, when Captain Cold interrupted.

"The Kid wasn't much older than you when we first met him, and one of us - I think it was Sam the first time - called him 'Baby Flash' as an insult, and after that it stuck."

"Which reminds me!" The little girl blinked as James suddenly bent over upside down to look her in the eyes. "From now on, you're Tiny Flash!"

"...I thought I already was?"

Now it was Trickster's turn to blink. "Huh?"

"I mean, that's what you've been calling me since I was a toddler..."

"Oh. Well, okay then!"

Cold wasn't sure if he was about to laugh or groan, when one of their exterior alarms started beeping. The Rogues all immediately jumped to their feet, reaching for weapons as their eyes turned to the couple of monitor screens their base had connected to the security cameras. For some inexplicable reason, most of them also found themselves shifting to stand closer to the kid, who had shrunk down into her blanket and was looking a bit worried.

That changed when a black and yellow blur burst into the room, zipped in between the adults, and tackled her. " _IREY!"_

" _JAY!"_

Startled, eight pairs of eyes widened as they took in the sight of a blonde haired boy hugging their little redhead for all he was worth. "Dang it Irey, I was so worried! Why didn't you call the League or Team or anybody?!"

"Because I di- *cough* didn't really wake up until a little while ago, and then- *cough* -I had to figure out what the heck _happened-"_

"Why are you coughing?" The boy was suddenly patting her up and down, checking for injuries. "Are you hurt? What happened? It's bad enough we came back in time-but-if-you-turn-out-to-behurttoothenDad's _really_ gonnakillme-"

"She came here through a bleedin' thunderstorm, ya little drongo." Captain Boomerang snorted. "Guaranteed the kid wasn't gonna be at one hundred perfect after that." The speedster's eyes widened as he finally looked around to take in the gathered Rogues.

"...Huh. There aren't as many of you as I was expecting."

"Top and Evan won't show up for a while." Irey put in. "Josh is just a- *cough* -a baby, and I don't think Owen's been born yet."

"Oh. Hey, that reminds me," He turned to look at Cold. "Can our cousin come in? He promised to wait outside in case my sister wasn't here, but since she is-"

"Cousin?" The girl asked, confused. "Won't Don and Dawn still just be babies?"

"Yeah, but this is Bart, in Dad's old Kid Flash costume."

"Oh! Can he come in, Uncle Len?" Faced with dual pairs of begging green eyes, Cold would swear later that the little brats had hypnotized him.

"Uh... Sure."

"Yay!" The twins cheered, before Jay activated the comlink to call in his lone reinforcement. A few seconds later, a yellow and red blur arrived in their midst.

"I think we need to get some better security around here." Piper sighed as Kid Flash came to a stop.

"Hi!" Bart crouched down to smile at the little redhead. "You must be Irey! Y'know, it's been kind of scary seeing how much Jay's been helping us to try and find you."

Heatwave snorted. "Four days of searching and you lot couldn't have gotten here any faster?"

"Hey, they didn't rescue me from the bad scientist guys until yesterday!" Jay protested, hands coming up instinctively to rub at his upper arms. The older Rogues all caught the gesture, and their gazes narrowed, especially as Irey asked her brother about what had happened to him and the boy evaded her questions. "Anyway, we found you, so now we can start figuring out how to go home!"

"You blokes got a way of doing that?" Digger raised an eyebrow at Bart.

"We're... Working on it. I didn't do everything when I built my time machine, so the tech guys and I have been trying to jury-rig something-"

"When _you_ built a time machine?"

"Erm, yes?"

"He's from the future too." Jay piped up. "Except a really nasty one, where the Reach took over Earth, so he had to come back in time to try and change things, and he did!"

"Which is how we're able to have you two troublemakers." Bart said ruefully, not noticing the looks of startled appreciation he was receiving. "Anyway, so, time to go back to home base now."

"Oh! Hold on a minute!" Trickster disappeared through a door for a moment, reappearing with Irey's Impulse suit in hand. "This was kinda soaked when she showed up, so Lisa put her in some pj's instead." Blinking, Jay shifted to look at his twin, who smiled sheepishly and partially unwrapped the blanket, revealing the My Little Pony pajamas she was wearing.

"If you laugh, I swear I'll- *cough* -I'll hit you." She warned, as her brother clapped both hands over his mouth to muffle the giggles. Bart just smirked, handing the uniform to Jay before he leaned over and scooped up the small girl.

"Well, I think the best way I can thank you folks is to pretend I never saw you here, right?"

"Yeah. And, one other thing." Golden Glider winked at him. "Make sure you smack these guys' dad for vanishing on us whenever he shows back up in these parts, alright?"

"I am ninety nine point nine nine nine percent sure his girlfriend will have that part covered, but I'll definitely tell him you all said hi!" Grinning widely, Bart nodded to everyone there, and then took off with Jay at his heels. For a little while afterward, the eight Rogues tried to process everything that had happened in quick succession that evening.

"I'm going out for a beer. Any of you guys coming?" Mick asked, heading for the door. The others accepted or declined as they were wont, with Mark going to visit his son and Len staying behind to work on his weapons. Lisa paused before heading out after the others.

"So, how long do you think it'll be before we're over run with mini speedsters?" She teased, causing her brother to slump back and sigh.

"Not nearly long enough to be fully ready for 'em." Laughing, Lisa missed what Len said next. "But I think we'll be fine with the situation regardless."

-FNR-

The GPS built into Jay's super suit had been dissected and trashed during its time in captivity, but Irey's was still fully functional and able to lead the heroes right back to the cave on the Brazilian coast where the twins had made their trip back in time. The place was deserted of life signs, but still bore scorch marks from the brief battle that had taken place several days beforehand.

"So, now the only question is, how are we going to get you guys back to where you're supposed to be?" Nightwing mused, as he, the twins, Bart, Barry, and a few others inspected the site.

"Could we cheat?" Superboy called from across the cave. "Bury a time capsule or something that opens up in the right number of years, with instructions telling our future selves to come back to this place with their own time machine?"

"Conner, I think that is the most extreme possible form of procrastination I've ever heard of."

The hybrid clone merely shrugged. "Hey, I'm thinking from the perspective that they'd have an easier time building something that came _back_ than we would of making something to go _forward."_

"Which, is kind of a legitimate point." Bart spoke up. "Although, they'd have to actually make something capable of going both back _and_ forward again, which introduces all kinds of other issues-"

He would have gone into a ramble about the theoretical science, had a sudden thunderclap not caused the teen to yelp instead. A swirling circle of gold and orange erupted in the center of the cave floor, sending all the heroes present to pull back to the entrance. They assumed defensive stances and prepared to fight-

-until a man in a red suit with yellow and white markings tumbled out of the portal, landing in a crouch before springing back to his feet, revealing the lightning bolt symbol on his chest. Stunned, the older heroes all stared at him, and the man froze when he realized that they were there.

The two young speedsters, though, had no such loss of voice or movement. They launched themselves at the newcomer, both screaming the same word.

" _DAD!"_

 _A/N: Due to a blocking of the creative juices (someone go fuss at my Anthropology teacher, please) tomorrow's update has unfortunately been postponed until Thursday. Maybe Friday. Depends on how long it takes me to finish putting this story's final few pages together._

 _/prepares to duck a barrage of rotten fruit_


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"And they're sure it's really him?" Virgil was asking the other teens gathered in the Watchtower's biggest meeting hall. Most League and Team members had still been recovering from their massive mission that night, and as such had all been at the orbital base when the small group investigating the Brazilian cave returned - third time traveler in tow. Both Irey and Jay had been clinging to their dad's hands, excitedly talking at superspeed as they told him about all the people they'd met during their time in the past. Wally, for his part, wore a tired and relieved smile as he drank in every word, paying attention only to his kids and where he was walking. Dozens of people had paused in the Watchtower's halls to stare at them as Nightwing led the trio to someplace private, Barry and Bart following after with the same ecstatic grin. Superboy had split off from the group when they arrived, to head to the newly cleaned kitchen and get M'gann's help in whipping up a speedster-sized helping of dinner.

"Yep!" Jaime was smiling so wide he thought his face might break in two. "The twins confirmed it, and then Bart practically squeezed the guy in half with how tight he hugged him."

"I almost can't believe it," Cassie murmured, looking delighted. "To know that's he's actually back-"

"You mean, _will_ be back." Tim interrupted her. "This is his future self, remember? Ours still has to show back up sometime next spring, based off of what the kids told us."

Gar blinked in sudden fear. "Uh-oh, that reminds me - has anyone remembered to tell Artemis yet?"

-FnR-

Whereas people had stopped in their tracks to stare at a man they'd thought dead, they nearly fell over themselves trying to get out of the way of his enraged girlfriend. As Artemis stalked through the Watchtower, the fearsome scowl she wore was completely at odds with the rapid-fire pounding of her anxious heart.

Bart had zipped through the garden a few minutes ago to find her, sitting at the base of Wally's holographic memorial, and let the woman know about their newest arrival. Thoroughly pissed that she hadn't been told sooner, Artemis began to make her way in the direction of the room where Nightwing had taken the trio of time-traveling speedsters. Finally approaching the correct door, she somehow found her mad march slowing with each step, until the hero was standing frozen outside the room.

For the next several minutes, Artemis attempted to berate herself into lifting a hand and pushing the door open. _You've faced demonic witch-boys, alien invaders, the worst Gotham has to offer and a ticked off Mom._ Her inner voice said sternly. _You can go talk to someone who's supposed to be dead! Even, even if it is Wally..._ Taking a deep breath, the young woman finally gained some of her usual nerve and reached up to enter.

Except, she hadn't quite gotten that far when the door was opened from the other side. Startled green eyes blinked down at her from underneath locks of red hair, and then Artemis was leaning forward and hugging him and crying and talking all at the same time- Strong, reassuring hands carefully held her close until her breakdown passed, and then Artemis was stepping back in embarrassment, angrily wiping at her eyes.

Wally West watched from the doorway, Irey and Jay anxiously hovering behind him.

"Soon," he told her with a soft smile. "He'll be back soon, I promise. Same place as where he left from, exactly two years after it happened." Nodding in gratitude, Artemis moved a little further back, to allow the three speedsters to leave the room. Before the door swished shut, she caught a glimpse of the remains of a huge feast, and raised an eyebrow at Wally. "Hey, it took a lot of work to come this far back in time. I'm gonna need all my strength back to make the trip again with these two in tow." He ruffled the twins' hair simultaneously, prompting dual protests that got a smile out of Artemis. The four of them walked to the Watchtower's main foyer, where the pair of zeta tubes were located, talking about meaningless things all the while.

When they reached the foyer, just about every League and Team member had gathered there. The room went quiet as the heroes all caught sight of Wally with the cowl of his Flash uniform down.

Then the applause started.

Magnified through the massive room and the structure beyond, it took a while for the grown speedster to get the clapping to die down. "Guys, not that I'm not flattered, but you're a little late with all that. Or, er, early actually. Save it when when my younger self manages to finally figure out how to vibrate himself back into reality. Granted, it might just go to the idiot's head..." His sheepish expression got several to laugh.

Nightwing stepped forward, grasped his older friend's hand again, and asked what the next step was. Wally huffed out a breath as he pulled his suit's cowl up. "Well, I can't just run us home from here - no guarantee the Watchtower is orbiting this exact same position at the time point we'll need to emerge into. I figured we'd take a zeta beam down to the surface, run up to what's left of Mount Justice and then do the time travelling thing, where no one's likely to spot us."

"So, you can actually use this Speed Force thing to go across time?" Green Arrow looked at Bart and Barry. "Can you two do that?"

"Nope. Just me, and only because of the couple of years I spent inside of it. A speedster tends to gain a lot of extra energy doing that." Wally explained. He made his way over to the zeta tubes, the twins trailing along behind. "'Wing, you have us in here as guests?"

"Yeah, you all are good to go. But, you sure you three don't want to stick around any longer?"

"Spoilers, dude. Bart's were helpful - mine and the kids', not so much." Smiling at them all one last time, Wally activated the teleporter, leaving with his children in as they all waved one last time.

 _Same place as where he left from, exactly two years after it happened._ Taking a deep breath, Artemis internally promised that she would be ready and waiting.

-FNR-

"You two sure you're both ready for this?"

"For the last time- _yes,_ Dad!" Irey was bouncing in place with excitement, while Jay nodded a bit more slowly.

"Alright. Each of you take my hand, and whatever you do, _don't let go."_ With his kids secured, Wally began to vibrate, calling to the Speed Force to open a rift for him. One second, the trio of Wests were standing in the center of the ruins of Mount Justice. The next, they vanished in a burst of light.

The instant he felt the material fall away, replaced with the energized atmosphere of the Speed Force, Wally started running. He ended up dragging his children the first few steps, until their instincts kicked in. It was natural for all speedsters to be mesmerized by the myriad lights of the Force their first time inside - Barry, Bart, Don and Dawn had been the same on the occasions Wally had needed to briefly pull them into it. Fortunately, they'd all had him to get them moving or to pull them right back out again, unlike his introduction to the Speed Force after the North Pole Incident. He'd been lost in the lights for so long before it even occurred to the man that he wanted to share them with Artemis. It was the sudden memory of his soulmate that had jerked Wally's mind back to where it was supposed to be, and after that he'd started experimenting with the energy, trying to get back home.

Speaking of whom, he created an image of Artemis within his mind to focus on, using his connection to her to strengthen his desire to leave the Speed Force again. Wally had told his kids to do the same before they entered, but just in case he'd insisted on keeping a grip on each of them. Jay he could feel keeping pace with him, and a glance to the left had Wally smiling when he saw his son's eyes screwed tightly shut, the focused solely on running.

Irey, though, was starting to falter, which had her dad worrying as he took in the dazed expression she was starting to wear. "Hey, Imp!" He called out. "What's the first thing you want to do when we get home?"

"Uh... H-hug Mom?" The girl stammered, trying to pull her gaze forward from where it had been staring out at the lights streaming past them.

"That's good - she's really missed you guys these last couple days. What are you going to do after that?"

"T-tell my friends w-what we saw." Irey answered, her stride becoming more even again.

"Yeah? How do you think they're going to react, knowing you got to meet all their mentors and parents when they were just teens?"

"Terry won't believe it. He never does." A determined fire came to the girl's eyes, and she started to surge ahead a little bit. "But if he calls me an exaggerator again, I'll run him over to Gotham Harbor and drop him in."

"...I think we've been letting Lian babysit you guys a little too much." Despite his teasing remark, Wally was glad to see his daughter focusing on the path before them once again. Ahead, he could just start to see the flickering rift that marked their exit. "Here comes our stop, guys, get ready-!" And with that, the trio were bursting out of the Speed Force, its tempting lights left behind.

The instant Wally set foot back on solid ground, his strength took a sudden nosedive. Stumbling, he tripped and released the twins' hands, rolling forward several yards before a familiar telekinetic grip caught ahold of him. Jay fell to his knees and promptly threw up, barely noticing the voices that called out in alarm. Irey also felt nauseous, but found herself distracted by the lingering portal right behind her. A deep longing welling up within her heart, the little redhead reached out a hand, barely brushing it through the fading lights.

One final burst of Speed Force energy reached out to the girl, triggering a small explosion as the portal finally closed.

"Ah!" Irey shrieked, throwing up her hands to try and shield her exposed face from the sparks. A bright wave of energy swept across the ground around her, and then a pair of figures appeared beside the girl.

One was a teenager, wearing what looked to be the Kid Flash costume done with a swirling mixture of yellow, orange and red materials. From the open top of her cowl emerged a thick bundle of red hair secured in a braid that extended down past her shoulders. She wore a startled but not overly fearful expression. The other figure wore the red Flash uniform, with yellow boots and gloves but orange accents down her sleeves and around the shoulders. This woman looked hardly concerned at all, glancing about at the teen and child beside her, before sending a small grin at the heroes who stood tensely by the edge of the platform.

Then the energy wave dissipated, and it was once again only little Irey who stood there staring at the concerned crowd of waiting heroes.

"Whoa," she muttered, just as the girl's knees gave way. Instantly, Don and Dawn in their Spin and Twist suits were there to catch her, holding Irey up long enough for Artemis to hurry in and scoop up her exhausted daughter.

"What the heck was _that?!"_ Don questioned, still slightly freaked out by the entire deal. Most of the adults hadn't seemed too concerned over the younger twins disappearing on a mission, but he, his sister and most of the other Team members were still on edge over it.

"While I hate to pretend to be an expert on time travel, I'd say we just caught glimpses of Irey's future." Wally groaned, rubbing at his sore back. M'gann, Conner, Dick and Roy had all gathered around him in concern, as they always were whenever the speedster had to go into the very same Force that had once taken him from them for two years.

Still holding Irey, Artemis moved a little closer to her drained son as Lian and Damian helped Jay to his feet. "Alright there, kiddo?"

"I am so not doing that again any time soon." The boy told her plaintively. Smiling, the archer guided him over to his dad, where the family spent a few minutes reuniting as their oldest friends looked on.

Six years down the timeline, the startled Kid Flash was being held up by her concerned brother and older cousin.

"What the freakin' heck was _that?!"_ Jay asked, eyes wide beneath his tinted goggles as his sister struggled to stay upright on her own.

"Don't you remember the time-stream incident when you guys were ten?" Don shook his head with a chuckle. "This was just the glimpse of your sister that we got back then; I was wondering when the energy wave would come along again."

"S'just as weird as th' first time," Irey muttered, keeping to her feet but still leaning against her family. "M'gonna hafta do it again, too?"

"Yep, one more time. But probably not for a while, though; I don't think Uncle Wally plans on giving up being the Flash anytime soon."

Twelve years further down the timeline from _that_ , a fully grown Irey West kept her balance all on her own as the final trace of the energy wave faded away.

"Glad that's over and done with." She muttered, taking a moment to roll the tension from her shoulders.

"Mommy?" Irey glanced down into wide green eyes that stared at her with worry. "Wha' happened?"

"Nothing, sweetheart," Scooping the six-year-old up, she fiddled with his black hair a moment before kissing him on the nose. "Just a little something from my past I knew would be popping up before too long. Now that that's out of the way, let's head over to your grandparents' house in Gotham, okay?"

"Okay. Can we run there really fast this time?"

Irey chuckled at the hopeful expression on her son's face. "Why do you think I'm in costume already?"

 _A/N: HAH! Twenty minutes to midnight, I'm still technically uploading this on Wednesday! Take that, Anthropology! Tomorrow, we have the heartfelt epilogue, and that will officially finish off my most rapidly popular story to date. Huzzah! Much thanks to everyone who contributed something!_

 _-Triscribe_


	6. Epilogue

Epilogue

She waited.

The wind was picking up, so the others had retreated back inside the bioship, but she refused to budge. The polar gear she wore would be plenty to keep out the freezing temperatures, for as long as need be.

Which, as it happened, turned out to not be much longer at all.

Ragged lines of bright orange light, like cracks in the walls of reality, began to appear before her, sending out wild disturbances through the air and snowdrifts. She was forced to raise a hand to block out some of the brightness, even as her eyes strained for some sign of the one who should be appearing at any second- And then, there he was. The light faded, leaving behind a heavily breathing man in a yellow and red suit.

Distantly, she could hear the bioship opening, the other speedsters and Team founders rushing out, but in that moment the only thing that held her attention was the person standing before her once more. "Wally..."

"Artemis?" He asked, still panting as green eyes blinked in slow recognition. "Wh- what happened?" She opened her mouth to respond, but instead released a shaky sob as she dashed forward to envelope him in the tightest hug she could manage. Instantly, his own arms were slipping around her waist, as if they'd never left, hadn't been gone for two years exactly.

"Missed you, Baywatch." She muttered into his shoulder as the others gathered around them, laughing in relief and calling out to him.

"Yeah, well, I knew you were going to be well and truly pissed at me if I went and died on a mission - I'd be a total hypocrite after all my arguments for us getting out of costume."

Shaking her head at his tumbling words, Artemis just smiled and tightened her grip. "Shut up and hold me, you idiot."

He gladly did so, and even amidst their cheerful companions, for a moment there at the top of the world there was nothing but the embracing archer and speedster.


	7. End Note

Hey folks,

Just wanted to let y'all know I've begun to post one-shots for this Futureverse, and will be making more multi-chaptered stories about the host of next generation characters. So, if you're interested in seeing more shenanigans from tiny speedsters, baby Bats, and a whole bunch of others, start by checking out my publications Valentine and the League of Exasperated Elder Siblings, and be sure to keep checking back for more!

-Triscribe


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